F BIGIELOLOGEA. 
» BEING SOME ACCOUNT 


OF THE 


REAT OR BROAD SEAL 


} ONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, 





NON OMNIS MORIAR. 


DICATEHED TO THE SACRED MEMORY OF 


ean | Ria : 
**'The gallant cavaliers who died in vain, ~ 
For those who knew not to resign or reign.’” 





BY IOANNES DIDYMUS ARCH.EOLOGOs. 
(Honi soit qui mal y pense!) 


PRICE 25 CENTS. 


WASHINGTON, D.C. ys 
PUBLISHED BY KERVAND & TOWERS. 


, PRINTED BY POWELL & GINCK, 
630, 632 F Street. 
1873. 















SIGILLOLOGIA. 





BEING SOME ACCOUNT 


OF THE 


GREAT OR BROAD SEAL 


OF THE 





NON OMNIS MORIAR. : 


DEDICATED TO THH SACRED MEMORY OW 


“The gallant cavaliers who died in vain, 
For those who knew not to resign or reign.” 


BY IOANNES DIDYMUS ARCH HOLOGOS. 
(Honi soit qui mal y pense!) 








PRICE 25 CENTS. 








WASHINGTON, D.C. 
PUBLISHED BY KERVAND & TOWERS. 


PRINTED BY POWELL & GINCK, 
630, 632 F Street. 
1873. 








cn. S 





rag. 








THE GREAT SEAL 


OF THE 


CONFEDERATE STATES. 


In Harper’s Monthly Magazine for February, 1869, there 
is an interesting paper entitled “The Executive Depart- 
ments and Seals,” in which occurs the following passage : 


“Jn our day the extraordinary spectacle has been seen 
of the efforts of an oligarchy, small in numbers, but power- 
ful in influence, to establish another nation within the 
bounds of the Republic—imperium in imperio—and to give to 
it the symbol of sovereignty in the form of a Great Seal. 
The youngest of us, old enough to reflect and reason, have 
seen that ‘ nation,’ so-called, spring up from the late slave- 
labor States which formed the northern portion of the great 
golden circle of empire devised by conspirators. It was a 
Caliban in features; barbaric in its proclivities; awfully 
potential in mischievjous works; protesting with fire, sword 
and torture against the civilization of the age; and yet 
impudently insisting upon its recognition as one of the 
family of legitimate and respectable sovereignties. Its titu- 
lar initials were ‘C.S. A.’ Its fathers resolved that it, 
like the nation it was attempting to overthrow by internal 
convulsions, should have a Great Seal, and in ‘ Congress’ 
resolved, in the spring of 1863, that it should bear ‘a de- 
[vice representing an equestrian statue of Washington 
(after the statue which surmounts his monument in the 
capitol square at Richmond), surrounded with a wreath 








4 


























composed of the principal products of the Confede: 
and having around its pee the words ‘ Confed 
States of America, Feb. 22, 1862, with the following m 
‘ Deo Vindice, God, the protector, defender, deliverer, 
ruler—indicative of the expected longevity of the “n 
because of divine protection and sustenance. Alas! 
‘nation ’ so notably ‘ conceived in sin and born in ini 
died of political and moral marasmus in its infaney 
honored by any recognition of its existence exceptin 
a Latin ghost of sovereignty. It had repeated history 
a delay in providing itself with the usual symbol of r 
ality. That symbol—the Great Seal of the infan 
federacy—sent to it by its nurse, England, reached 
pointed seat of the empire of the ‘C. 8. A.’ just as 1 
constituted guardians were flying from the wrath of 
whose protection they had impiously invoked. The 
favored bantling died, and was left to decay, without re 
mourners, without burial, and without a monument 
no true man desired to perpetuate its memory. 4 
quaries, in the future, will search in vain for any im) 
sion of an emblem of sovereignty of the «C. 8. A.’ 
was ever made. The broad seal of the Republic ki 
covers the dishonored ashes of that child of sin.” 
Although we cannot but think the language of ar 
ology should be more temperate than the foregoing, 
is not the intention of the writer of this simple mono 
to take any exceptions thereto. The de mortuis nil 
bonum, is wholly out of fashion, at least in this land, 
as to States and statesmen. In fact an amiable frien 
the writer lately published a newspaper article in th 
deavor to prove the generous, time-honored Jatin m 
to be a delusion and a snare, or, to speak after the Ame 
can manner, a humbug and a fraud. 
Ours be it, therefore, to show, with moderation of st 





*An allusion to the delay of the United States in poocueaa t 
broad seal, 


























5 


that the paper from which we have quoted is in error when 
‘it says “ antiquaries, in the future, will search in vain for 
any impression of an emblem of sovereignty of the ‘C. 8 
A.’ None was ever made.” 
_ At the third session of the first Congress* of the Con- 
‘federate States of America, the necessary legislation was 
had for the establishing of a seal, as follows: 
[No. 4.] Joint resolution to establish a seal for the Confed- 
erate States. 
_ Resolved, by the Congress of the Confederate States of 
America, That the seal of the Confederate States shall 
consist of a device representing an equestrian portrait of 
Washington, (after the statue which surmounts his monu- 
; ment in the capitol square at Richmond.) surrounded with 
‘a wreath composed of the principal agricultural products 
| of the Confederacy, (cotton, tobacco, sugar cane, corn, 
wheat and rice,) and having around its margin the words: 
“The Confederate States of America, twenty-second Feb- 
ruary, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, with the following 
motto: “ Deo vindice.” 
Approved, April 30, 1863. [C. S. Statutes at Large.] 
_ And thus we have a succinct and accurate ees of 


; BD iévacy, 
| Accordingly the Hon. J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of 


6 
























[** No. 23.] 


PSas}s Se 

“ DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 
“ Rrcumonp, May 20, 1863. 

* as 


“Hon. James M. Mason, tie 
Be com &e., &e., . y ihe 


“ London. ae 
A Sis ‘i 
Foe 


* * * * * * * 


5 


« Congress has passed a law establishing a seal 
Confederate States. I have concluded to get the work 
ecuted in England, and request that you will dom 
favor to supervise it. You will receive herewith a 
of the act of Congress describing the seal, and a 
graphic view of the statue of Washington. The ] 
graph represents the horse as standing on the sumn 
an obelisk, but in the seal the base ought to be the 
as the representation is to be of a horseman and not 
statue. The size desired for the seal is the circle « ng 
back of the photograph. The outer margin will give spac 

-for the words ‘The Confederate States of Americ 
February, 1862.” I do not think it necessary that # 
date should be expressed in words, the figures 22, 186 
being a sufficient compliance with the requirem ont 
the law. Indeed, I know that in the drawing st 
mitted to the committee that devised the seal, f 
date was in figures and not in words. There i 
room for the date in words on the circumference 
seal without reducing the size of the letters so mu 
injure the effect. In regard to the wreath and the 
they must be placed as your taste and that of the 
shall suggest, but it is not deemed imperative, und 
words of the act, that all the agricultural products (¢ 
tobacco, sugar cane, corn, wheat and rice) should find 
in the wreath. ‘They are stated rather as examples 


( 


inclined to think that in so small a space as the wreath 
must necessarily occupy, it will be impossible to include all 
these products with good effect, and in that event I would 
suggest tnat cotton, rice and tobacco, being distinctive pro- 
duets of the southern, middle and northern States of the 
Confederacy, ought to be retained, while wheat and corn 
_ being produced in equal abundance in the United States 
as in the Confederacy, and therefore less distinctive than 
_the other products named, may better be omitted, if omis- 
sion isfound necessary. It is not desired that the work be 
executed by any but the best artist that can be found, and 
the difference of expense between a poor and a fine speci- 
_ men of art in the engraving is too small a matter to be taken 
into consideration in a work that we fondly hope will be 
‘required for generations yet unborn. 
_ * Pray, give your best attention to this, and let me know 
about what the cost will be and when I may expect the 
work to be finished.” 


‘ei 66> apt © Soa) PT de 















Monographic as we have designed this paper to be, we 
| cannot refrain from transcribing the remainder of this dis+ 
B patch of Mr. Benjamin, affording, as it does, a vivid pic- 
"ture of those times, as well as of its writer's hopeful and 
somewhat credulous nature, and of his ardent devotion to 
the now Lost Cause.* 

. “Jam happy to apprise you that the information from 
all parts of the Confederacy is most encouraging as re- 
-gards the growing crops. In the more southern portions 
of our country they are just beginning to gather the wheat 
harvest, and no complaint is heard from any part of the 
ment of rust or other injury. The production of wheat 


— 





__ *The present writer is not one of those who expects ‘to go to Mr. Ben- 
amin when he dies,’ and although regarding at the time and still re- 
arding the undue influence which he (Mr. B.,) exercised over Mr. Da- 
vis as a great calamity to ‘The Cause,’ justice requires that he should 

e vindicated from the suspicion of unfaithfulness to the Confederacy. 


8 : 




























and other small grain will be very large this year, y 
that of corn will be enormous, probably enough for t 
year’s consumption, unless some very unexpected and 1 
usual calamity shall occur. Our enemies must find s 
other instrumentality than starvation before they suc¢ 
in breaking the proud spirit of this noble people. H 
it makes one’s heart swell with emotion, to witness 
calm, heroic, unconquerable determination to be free 
fills the breast of all ages, sexes and conditions. i 
“ What effect may be produced in Europe by the repu 
at Charleston and the defeat of Hooker is not now: 
the subject of speculation among the people. It is 1 
evident purpose of foreign governments to accord 0 
fuse recognition according to the dictates of their owr 
terests or fears, without the slightest reference to rig’ 
Justice, and we have thus learned, at heavy cost, a _ 
that will, I trust, remain profitable to our statesmen in 
future time. 7 
« We have now, by our system of taxation, so arre 
our financial affairs as to be entirely confident of the a 
to resist, for an indefinite period, the execrable saya: 
who are now murdering and plundering our peopl 
no prospect of peace is perceptible from any other so 
than the growing conviction among all classes in 
United States that they are waging a war as ruinous i 
present as it is hopeless for the future.” ; 
We have been unable to find anything among the Con- 
federate archives, from Mr. Mason, in reply to the fot 
going instructions as to the-seal, until his dispatch to. 
Benjamin, dated London, February 18, 1864, wherei 
occurs the following passage : a 
“Tn regard to the seal, too, I have now a report 
Mr. Foley, who, it seems, has been some time absent 
London. He says that the artizan, Mr. Wyon, employe 
to engrave it, informs him that it will yet require | 


9 




























weeks or two months to to finish it, as he is very anxious 
to bestow upon it all the pains so important a work de- 
mands. He is executing it in silver, (the metal the state 
seals of England are executed in) which offers the advan- 
tage of proof against rust so often destructive to seals ex- 
-ecuted in steel. 

“The above is from M;?. Foley’s note of the 10th instant, 
from Dublin, to me at Paris. He tells me, further, that 
the cost of engraving the seal, including the press for work- 
ing it, will be eighty guineas, and that it is customary in 
_ England to receive one-half the amount on commencing 
the work. He advises that I should conform, as it will at 
_ least prevent excuse for delay, and which I will do as soon 

as I can obtain the address of Mr. Wyon.” 


_ Wenext hear from Mr. Mason, on the subject of the 
“seal, under date of Paris, April 12, 1864. 

_ Mr. Mason to Mr. Benjamin: 

_ « Before I left London I called on Mr. Wyon, the artist 
employed to make the Confederate seal referred to in my 
No. 4, and paid him forty guineas, equal to forty-two 
pounds, one-half the cost of the seal, in advance, and ar- 
ranged that when it was ready it should be carefully packed, 
with the press, &e., in a box lined with tin, and put in 
charge of Mr. Hotze until it could be sent over. He 
promised it should be ready by the middle of May.” 

We again indulge in a little episode by admitting the 
following illustrative paragraph trom the same dispatch of 
Mr. Mason : 


10 


























We give the precise number of his notes of ex 
tion. Noble old Virginian ! we fear he was not the 
for that place and those times. But one cannot read hi 
dispatches without a feeling of profound admiration fot 
his exalted character. a. 

The official and pecuniary history of the seal ends 
the following dispatch from Mr. Mason to Mr. Benj 
and its appendix—being the bill of the engraver, amou 
to 122 pounds 10 shillings, equal to about $700 T 
States currency, at present (July, 1873,) price of 
Other appendices, being “ directions for using the 
Seal of the Confederate States,” we omit, as. they rele te 
a purely mechanical subject: 


“ Lonpon, July 6, 1864, 
“24 Upper Seymour STREET, 
“ Pogtman Squz 
« Hon. J. P. Bensamin, F 
“ Secretary of State. 
«Sir: I have the pleasure to inform you that I send 
- Lieutenant Chapman, C. 8. A., who bears this, the seal « 
the Confederate States, at last-completed. It is mu 
mired by all who have seen it here, and I hope you 
approve it as a fine work of art. $ 
«The seal is carefully put up in a separate small box 
and Lieut. Chapman is charged, under no circumst 
to run the risk of its being captured. He takes the r 
to Bermuda, via Halitax, to sail on Saturday, 9th inst 
and Iship through Messrs. Fraser, Trenholm & Co., by 
steamer that takes him to Halifax, two boxes conta 
the iron press, with a full supply of wax and 
materials for the use of the seal. Although not exp 
ordered, in the difficulty of obtaining these in the 
federacy at present, at least of approved quality, I 
thought it best to have them supplied here, all whie hi 
hope you will approve. “ 
« The enclosed duplicate bill will furnish a list of those 





11 















materials, with the prices. The original I have paid and 
‘retain. 

_ “T have requested Lieutenant Chapman to take charge 
of the boxes at Bermuda, and to see to their safe delivery. 
To relieve him of expenses on the route, I have further 
requested Messrs, Fraser, Trenholm & Co., here, if they can 
do so, to pay the freight all the way to Bermuda, and write 
to Major Walker at Bermuda to pay the freight thence to 
the Confederacy, should they not go in a Government 


» “Still it is possible that some part of this may not be done, 
and I have accordingly told Lieutenant Chapman, should 
any expenses in the transportation devolve on him, it 
should be paid promptly at the Department of State, which 
_ oblige me by having attended to. 

«T have the honor to be, &e., &e., &e., 
[Signed.] “J. M. MASON.” 


[Duplicate Account.] 


J. M. Mason, Esa. 
To JosepH S. Wron, 
Chief Engraver of Her Majesty’s Seals, &c., 


287 Regent Street, London, W. 


America, with ivory handle, box with 


spring lock and screw press... £84 
3,000 SNR Oe 2 4 10 
L000; seal papers. ..\u0.+ 982 v 
1,000 strips of parchment...... 18 
VOW brass’ bexes. 202255 Pe 16 5 

100 %cakes of Wax. 256 o./sie's - 7 
OQ egrds ly 6 oiccp. eid acdc 6 5 
HU WORIOTALOE DS Fog col 0/5) 65s) 3 habe. oh se B) 

3 packing cases lined with tin.. 3 
£122 10 


_ By cash, 21 March, £42. 
Settled by cheque for balance, 6th July, 1864. 


12 














The article in Harper’s Magazine from which we h | 
quoted, lays stress upon the fact that, “ that symbol, 
Great Seal of the Confederacy, was sent to it by its n 
England.” But the author seems to have forgotten 
in his paper on the Great Seal of the United States, 
is in the same magazine, for July, 1856, he dwells 
some complacency upon the fact that the earlier and 
enduring symbol was “invented by an English arist 
Sir John Prestwich.” He will accord to the Confeder 
at least the merit of having “ invented” their own syml 
though it must be confessed there is not much tha 
heraldic about it beyond the inevitable man on horse 
And it will be noted, that the Confederates were ind 
to England solely for the mechanical execution of tl 
' Great Seal. We (the writer speaking as a quondam O 
federate) should have been too happy to have found an 
alma mater in old England. £heu! _ 















it may be not out of place here to observe that th 
are two faces to the Great Seal of the United States, 
only the obverse is used, and, as in the case of the mo 
we never see the reverse; the design of which consist 
a truncated pyramid with the Omniscient eye above; a 
the base of the pyramid “1776” in numeral letters. Ove 
the eye the words Annuit Ceptis, and underneath all the 
legend Novus Ordo Seclorum. © =e 


It is quite germane to our subject that we make 
reference to the seals of the mother country. We f 
the Congressional Library a curious little book publ 
just 200 years ago. The following is its title: 

Jus Sigilli or the Law of England, Touching His Maj 
four principal Seales, viz: the Great Seale, the Privie 
the Excheger Seale, and the Signet. Also of those g 
officers to whose custody these Seales are committed. — 


| 


it * 
13 


i 
{ 


London, 1673. 


-  Conseerated to the Clarissimo, Consultissimo, Dissertis- 
simogue Viro, Domino Johanni Churchill, In agro Som- 
_ ersetensi Equiti Aurato, &c., &e., &e., by Johannes Brydall, 
_ Armiger, ac Somersetensis. 

_ [We will now give the leading sentence of each of the 
_ several chapters. ] 


-I. OF tue Great on Broad SEAL* oF ENGLAND. 


This Great Seal is in’ the custody of the Lord Chancel- 

lor or Lord Keeper, and there is a special officer in the 
High Court of Chancery, called Sigillator, who hath the 
‘sealing of writs, and other things that pass the Great Seale. 


II. Or tare Priviz SEAL. 


















Parvum Sigillum, the Little or Petit Seal, after called Pri- 
vatum Sigillum, the Privie Seal, is a Seal that his most Sa- 
ered and excellent Majesty useth sometime for a warrant, 
whereby things passed the Privie Signet and brought to it 
| are sent further to be confirmed by the Great Seal of 
England. Sometime for the strength or Credit of other 
things, written upon Occasions more Transitory and of less 
continuance than those be that pass the Great Seal. 


, Ill. OF tue Excuequer SEAL. 


| The seal belonging to: the Court of Exchequer is in the 
| custody of the Chancellor, of whom these following authors 
| Speak thus, &c.: 

[We can give only one, and choose him for his quaint- 
ness. ] 
_ 38. Prowven: L’eschequer ad Chancellor et Seal etles Briefes 
usuall en le Chancery en L’eschequer de seiser le Terre en tiel 
| Case, sont pluis antient, que le Register, ou le Treatise Pre- 
Pogativa Regis. 
Tt will be observed that the orthography of the English language was 
Not fixed at that time, nor is it at the present. 


i 
¥ 





14 


IV. OF THE SIGNET. 















o> vee 


This Seal is in the custody of the Pasta Secret 
as well for Sealing his Majesties private Letters, as As 
such grants as pass the King’s Hands by Bill assig 
And there are four Clerks of the Signet called 1 
Signeti, attending on this Secretary in their Course, 


were used to have their Dyet at his table. 


Our subject is not, strictly speaking, connected 1 
numismatics, but by referring to Prime’s work on ¢ 
medals and seals, (Harper & Brothers, 1861,) plates ° wil 
seen of many of the Great Seals of England, begim 
with William the Conqueror, and including Magna C 
John. It seems that each succeeding sovereign of thé 
realm has his own broad seal. | bet 

it 9 
; eso 
The use of the seal is very ancient, almost coeval wi 
historic man, for antique intaglii are found w 
the least degree of art has flourished. These ant 
seals, qed Etrusean, Grecian, Roman, Carta 
&e., are become almost common, even in this country, of 
years, the more prized, perhaps, by reason of the fact th 
polishing of the intaglio ranks among the lost arts, altho 
there is now an artist in Paris whose work passes even 
the virtuosi, but it is more expensive than the genuin 
cept as to those specimens which are so costly as 
termed “ priceless.” We have before us at this wr 
impression from a head of Antinous, for which get 
owner has refused $2,000; and we, ourselves, have a 
of Jupiter valued at $500. But very handsome ones ¢ 
now be had in New York, for $100 or so. | 


But turn we now to high antiquity. 


15 


From the “Sabzean* Researches” of John Landseer,t 
Fellow of the Royal Society, &c., and engraver to the King, 
a work published in London just fifty years ago, and for 
the use of which we are indebted to the well-furnished 
library of that Learned Theban, Genl. Albert Pike, we 
extract the following in illustration of our theme: 


Mr. Landseer, in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, in re- 
ference to certain cylindrical gems (itagliz) disinterred at 
Babyton and in Pheenicia, proceeds most satisfactorily to 
his reader to show why he conceives the gems to have 
been orignally not worn as talismans or amulets, but used 

__ as signets, that is to say, impressed for the purposes of ratify- 
ing such social and religious transactions as called for a 
sacred pledge. 

He then treats of them with reference to the ancient 
“customs of Chaldea and Assyria, (Saban nations of 
course), and observes that Herodotus, in detailing those 
ustoms as they existed in his time, says that every Assy- 
Tian possessed a signet or seal. But this father of history 
does not inform us as to the shape of the seal, nor the 
‘Manner in which mounted. 

‘Reference in the Pentateuch to the engraver’s art shows 
hat in the time of Moses, it was no recent invention, and 















6 a pa 


4 SST 


_ *Yhis word signifies worshippers of the stars, and is applied to all 
those very ancient nations which cultivated astronomy, deified the sun, 










The Sabzeans are frequently mentioned in the Pentateuch, the book 
of Job, &e. 

_The charmingly poetical expression of ‘** Sabzan odors from Araby 
the Blest,”’ refers to the Arabian town of Saba, famed for its aromatic 
Arabia Felix. 


thi thing?” W oe one was ieee to the Rane of ‘Portugal 
hat youthful monarch said, *“‘I am delighted to make your acquaint- 
ance, Sir Edwin: I am so fond of beasts !”’ 


16 
that among the surrounding nations signets were baie co 
mon and in well-known use. 4 
Josephus, too, informs us that some ages before the t 
of Moses, when Pharaoh invested the youthful Joseph 
power over the land and people of Egypt, he entruste 


his discretion the use of the royal signet, along with a 
the ostensible mark of the royal authority. 


i 


The Chaldean progenitors of tae Jews were ill ; 
and it is by no means improbable—considering the nut 
rous uses to which the signet may have been applied : 
rude age, when writing could have been practiced bi w 
few persons; considering too, the great number of sig 
that must in consequence have become necessary—t 
Terah, the Chaldean, the father of Abraham, and the 
artist whose name is anywhere upon record, was an 
graver of signets as well as a sculptor or modeller of si 
small idols as Rachel, in three generations from Ter: L 
recor Bee to ae hidden under the forme of a 2 
















stitious faith, were easily portable and served as perst 
ornaments. 


his hero, “Paes had vecened his death vous fr 
the hand of his unknown father, he tore open his coat 0 


his arm when she revealed to him the secret of his b rth 

and bade him seek his father. “The sight of his OW! 

signet (says Ferdosi) rendered Roostum quite frantic,” & 
The passage in the Idyl of Solomon, “set me as a s¢ 

upon thine arm,” doubtless alludes to the same orient 

custom, and is of a date between Judah and ool 
“ Hast thou commanded the morning since thy de 


Ly 


- Hast thou caused the day-spring to know his place, that it 
might take hold of the ends of the earth? It is turned 
as clay to the seal,” &e. Job., chap. 38. 
_ The sealing substances of the land of Uz and probably 
that of the nations on the banks of the Euphrates, at this 
“remote period, was clay, the ooze of that river, the very 
same substance, levigated, perhaps, of which the stamped 
Babylonian bricks are formed; and our instructive author 
adds, that of the various substances (such as wax, pastes, 
&e.,) on which he has tried to impress these ancient signets, 
he has found clay the fittest both for receiving and retain- 
“ing the impression. The durability of well-made bricks, 
whether burnt in the fire or in the sun, is well known. 
Our excellent author gives us much learned discourse 
on the philology of the noun signet, and the verb fo seal, 
- showing how the latter came to be used, both as a noun 
/andasavyerb. When the King of Babylon closed up the 
entrance to the temple of Baal, and that of the den of 
lions to which the prophet Daniel was consigned, by ap- 
application of the royal signet,—in the latter instance 
















‘there were added impressions from the signets of his 
| nobles. The sacred text also alludes to the irrevocability 
| of the seals of the Medes and Persians, by adding “ that 
the purpose might not be changed.” 
Signet is from the same root and belongs to the same 
verbal family, with Signal, Ensign, Signature, Insignia, 
Assignment, Signify, Assignation ; and the root, or etymon, 
from which all these, with a long et cetera, have grown 
lies deep, far deeper than the later signum, from which the 
dictionaries derive them, but which is itself derived, along 
with them, from the Hebrew root Ath, by some Hebraists 
pronounced Oth, but he believes more properly Ath, which, 
dn our language, is rendered with sufficient fidelity by the 
| word Sign. And by the expression of Hebrew root, is 
meant that from which the idea or meaning, not the word 
Signet, has grown. It is not pretended to trace, with the 


18 



























etymologists, the progress of a sound from one lang 
age and country to another, but rather the progr 
transmission of an idea from the primitive ages to 
present. Anything so anomalous as that the Eng 
word Sign can have been derived from a sound so dissi 
lar as the Hebrew Ath, it is hoped he will not be suppe 
to mean. If our word sign came from the Hebrew 
it probably came, with the Greek Sema, from Shem, 
is Name. n 

It may not be superfluous to mention, that the orc ina r 
sense in which the names of common things are f] 
credited signs of those things is not here treated o 
of that other branch of the meaning of Shem, whic 
English word Notoriety would best express, but more 
conditely, of mystic signs, prophetic of the future, 0 
emphatically denoting the past. i 

Ath or Sign, then, primarily meant and still mean 
What? A mystic mark, denoting and bringing to 
something absent, or some material essence intellec 
apprehensible, but not cognizable by the senses. 


To this family of words (Signal, Ensign, ete. . 
belongs, and from this genealogical root springs the 
Signet. Its termination ef meaning no more in the ab 
than advancement to the accomplishment of a | 
pose intended, which purpose, in the present case, is th 
manifestation, of the sign; or else this termination 1 
merely a diminutive, like the eite of the French, in Y 
ease signet, or signette, can mean no other than liter 
miniature s7gn. 

It is well known that our Saxon ancestors, soon 
the introduction of Christianity, when few men were ¢ 
enough to execute a written deed by the subseripti 
their names, were accustomed instead thereof, as illit 
persons do at present, to sign with a cross; of which1 
may be said either that they made the mystic sign of tht 


Se 


19 


cross, or that the cross which they made was the sign* 
of their plighted faith. 


[Another entertaining work, Oriental Fragments, by 
the author of the Hindu Pantheon, London, 1834, says: 


The impressions of seals or rings, which I suppose may 
be called signets, were in days of yore extensively applied 
in lieu of manualsignature. Insuch days it was not usual 
for any but the clergy to learn to write or read. Not 
many centuries, say four or five, have elapsed since read- 
ing and writing were in Englgnd deemed ungentlemanly 
acts. Those must have been glorious days for the rev- 
erend clergy.] 


During the middle ages when the profession of arms 
was regarded as the only pursuit worthy of a gentleman, 
and learning was mostly confined to the ecclesiastical 
orders, it was looked upon as an efteminacy fer men to 
know how to write their names; and this habit of thought 
lasted among the French noblesse long after the art of 


| printing had disseminated intelligence amongst the middle 


classes. Even as late as 1789 a deed is of record in 
France signed by a member of a noble family with 
his t mark, to which the Scribener has added as explana- 
tion: “Cannot write his name for too much nobility.” 

To resume Landseer: That mark of the cross was the 
ordinary mode of signature among the Anglo Saxon 
Christians, who were, with regard to their inability to 
write, in the predicament of most of those Sabeans of 
old, whose signets, or instruments of signing we are 
about to consider, and some of whom lived, in all proba- 
bility before writing was invented. 


n* * * * * * 





_ *Thus, John (his { mark) Smith, and hence, from the form of that 
mark, the popular error as to the meaning of the expression to sign 
one’s name, as though it were derived from the sign of the cross. 


20 


In the dark ages, which succeeded the overthrow of the 
Roman power, not only few men could write, but th 
were no artists capable of cutting seals; signature with 
the cross was therefore among the Christians, in a " 
degree, a thing of necessity, though they sometimes m 
use of other ceremonies as signs or tokens. But nk 
art began to reappear, and engraved stones to be r, 
up from the ruins of past ages, sealing was added ; and As 
writing gradually became more known and practised 
subscription of names came also into vogue, introduced 
first, perhaps, by learned clerks, and by way of notin, 
whose signature had ratified the deed that might be 
question, for even Charlemagne was not penman enough 
to subscribe his own name, but was accustomed tos 
with an antique gem, which had been set for that pur 
in the pommel of his sword, saying, as he impreeel 
“what I sign with the hilt I will defend at the roma of 
my sword.” ‘ 














it, 


But it ought to be noted here that regal signet, ised 
as instruments of authority in the signature of pul é 
edicts, appear to have crept into use after the age of Sc 0 
mon,* and perhaps from the time when the monarehi 
power of Saul was superinduced on the republic of Mo: es 
Whether they contained celestial signs, or more 
verbal inscriptions of the names and office of the kings, 
nowhere recorded, but with one of these, Jezebel ap 
to have signed her forged letters to the elders ; and in 
time of the prophet Jeremiah, very particular menti 
made of another signet, used as an instrument of leg: 
in the purchase of a field, from which it would appe 
have been the custom of the Hebrew conveyancers in 











posed of two equilateral triangles interlaced thus hes should be 
‘the Seal of Solomon ;”? much less why, having s7x angles, it she 
be called a pentacle, 2. e. pentagon, as though it had but five ang 
[See the Ingoldsby Legends. A Lay of gee Dunstan. ] 


21 


reign of Zedekiah to deposit a sealed copy of every deed 
of transfer of landed property in some public office. 

We here reluctantly take leave of our most fascinating 
author, having extracted some of the the most apposite 
passages from thirty-four pages quarto of the original. 


But we hear our impatient readers exclaim, what about 
that particular seal with the name of which your so-called 
monograph is headed? Kind friends, read on: 


THE GREAT SEAL OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES. 


To Col. CHaruzs C. JoNEs, jr.,* 
Attorney and Counsellor at Law, 
61 Wall street, New York. 


My Dear Sir: At considerable trouble and expense, I 
have been so fortunate as to rescue this interesting memo- 
rial from oblivion, and, possibly, a vandalic melting pot 
(it is of pure silver, and weighs several pounds). Ihave had 
many electrotype impressionst of it executed, and in defer- 
ence to your antiquarian and archeological tastes and 
devotion to the Lost Cause, have the pleasure of handing 
you, herewith, the first one finished, which you may regard 
as a proof-impression before letters. 


My object has been two-fold; first, to afford many of our 
compatriots an opportunity of possessing and holding in 
memoriam the fac simile of so unique and charming—in 
spite of so many sad recollections—a souvenir, for which 
purpose they will be offered for sale; and, second, to use 
‘the proceeds of the sale, less bare cost of the medals, cases, 
| &c., in the relief of as many as possible of the needy and 





*Author of ‘*‘ Monumental Remains of Georgia ;’’ ‘‘Historical Sketches 

of the Chatham Artillery during the Confederate Struggle for Inde- 

gpendence ;” ‘* Antiquities of the Southern Indians, particularly of the 
Georgia Tribes;”? &c. &e. 


' {Very skillfully and faithfully executed by Mr. S. H. Black, No. 4, 
Biarion street, New York. 





22 






assist me, as agents, in this benevolent sigillary under- 
taking. 
With much regard, your friend, &c., 20 











New York, June 20, 1873. 


And where is that Seal? It is in the possession of the 
writer of this paper. Who rescued it? And to whom 
does it belong? We reserve a reply to these questions 
fot another occasion. Suffice it to say, at present, detwr 
digniori. 


Pp. 8. 
We give the fac simile of Harper’s wood-cut illus 


ticated with it, also a few impressions given to officials, — 
clerks and others. 

We trust that the loyal heart of the North, which was~ 
so accutely sensitive to the sight of the Confederate gi 
shortly after the war, will not be distressed by the exhibi- 
tion of this symbol of the long extinct Confederacy—ere 
perennius though it be. Fuit Ilium! The alere flammam — 
is no part of our motive. 


23 


And we trust to be excused for indulging in this pleas- 
ant task, in the use of the first person plural. This trea- 
tise was designed as a newspaper editorial, but it has grown 
to an inordinate length for such purpose. The writer is 
‘not unmindful of the fact that Prentice, of the Louisville 
Journal, once said, “no man has the right to speak of 
himself as ‘we,’ unless he be a king, an editor, or have a 
Hape-worm.” 

These medals of the Great or Broad Seal of the late 
Confederate States are now ready for delivery to such 

ersOns as may desire to possess a specimen. They are 
nished in gold, silver and bronze (i. e. gilt, plated, &c.) 
price five and seven dollars each—according to the cost of 
the cases in which mounted. Orders will be received by 
Messrs. M. W. Galt, Brother & Co., Jewellers, No. 1107 
Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D. C. 
| N. B. They will not be furnished for speculative pur- 
(poses; but to Charitable Institutions at half price—being 
about prime cost. The number executed is limited. A 
statement shall be published of the number distributed, 
land of the disposition made of the surplus proceeds. 
§ Wasuineton, D. C., July, 1873. 

















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